Chasing Insanity
by Yumi-Tsubato
Summary: One day, the nightmare will return and then you will lose your life. You do not just run away. The inevitable is inevitable. I should have known that returning to our normal lives after what happened all those years ago would be impossible. In my darkest hours, as I run around the country to find my brother before the cops do, I still believe in miracles. I will get Mattie back.
1. Never Ending Nightmare

**I wonder who read the Asylum that will find this series and be happy about it ;p**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

I should have known.

I should have known that returning to our normal lives after what happened all those years ago would be impossible.

I should have known that some trauma had permanently made its home in my brother's fragile mind.

I should have known that miracles were too good to be true.

However even now, in my darkest hours, as I run around the country to find my brother before the cops do, I still believe in them.

In miracles.

Twelve years ago, my brother, Mattie, was incarcerated in an Asylum where he received special care prior to an incident which caused a temporary case of amnesia but, ultimately, insanity. He was said to be forever trapped in the mindset of a child but, nevertheless I struggled to bring my brother back to me for two years, keeping in mind that a miracle had let my brother survive the incident and thus a miracle would bring him back to me.

In a sense, I was right to believe.

He did come back to me after living through a horrifying moment at the Asylum when a dangerous inmate escaped on the day of our 17th birthday and threatened to kill us, but more specifically, me. The moment we vanquished the threat and escaped the horrible building, a flash of something sparked into Mattie's eyes before he fell in a coma but, five days later, awoke as the brother that I had always known and loved.

I thought we put the moments in the asylum behind us and could continue on with our lives, happily but, after a few years before the current moment, I realised there was still something off about my twin. I would sometimes spot him muttering words in French that were foreign to me mostly because I didn't understand the language.

"_Tu ne peu pas t'enfuir. L'inévitable est inévitable. Un jour, le cauchemar reviendra et là tu y perdras ta vie. Tu ne peu pas t'enfuir. L'inévitable est inévitable_."

You do not just run away. The inevitable is inevitable. One day, the nightmare will return and then you will lose your life. You do not just run away. The inevitable is inevitable.

If I had only known at the time, I could have avoided all of this from happening.

I could have kept Mattie from snapping.

I could have protected him like I had sworn to ever since we restarted taking control of life.

I could have kept him from murdering our friends, my lover and other innocent souls that should never had parted this world so early.

The cops tell me I shouldn't blame myself, but I can't help it. Mattie's my little brother and as an older brother, it's my duty to protect him with everything I have.

I know I should hate him now.

I know I should want to see him dead or behind bars.

I know I should feel so many things that I don't currently feel because I love him too much. He's my brother.

My little brother.

My twin.

My last family.

The cops think he's just some lunatic to set behind bars and forget but I know my brother's not naturally like this. I strongly believe that if I can find him, we can escape from this horror once more, restart our lives once more and have our chance at ever lasting happiness. However, in order to do so, I need to find Mattie and I haven't the slightest idea to where he could be hiding.

I just pray I'm the one who finds him first.

* * *

**Yes, I guess in some sense this does continue The Asylum but it's not like you have to read it to understand...**

**Though I admit that it might answer some of your questions like: why can't you use England, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sealand and France in this story?**

**Well, anyways, this is just the prologue so more will be explained next chapter (that will be uploaded seconds after) what happened durring the ten year gap (btw they're 27 now) and how did everything turn to shit!**

**SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!**


	2. Falling From Cloud 9

**So, here's the next chapter like I said :D**

**Anyways, I dunno if this story's going to make it pass the 3rd chapter mark but...there's always place for dreams and hopes xD**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

Everything began when we moved to New York City away from the Asylum, away from the past, away from everything that depicted our misery. It was something of the past and we wanted to keep it that way so we could finally be happy and move on with our lives.

I guess it's true what they say about this place, you make it or you don't. The key is to wait and when the moment is right you need to seize the opportunity because you may never get it again.

That's how it was for me and Mattie. We found the cheapest apartment we could that so happened to have a generous owner – even if this part of town was sketchy and crawling with dealers and other thugs. She let us live there for a year provided that, by the following, we would have money to pay for the rent.

And that we did.

During that preliminary year Mattie and I managed to get good jobs regardless of our lack of education and experience in the market. The way I got my job was pretty lucky; I got lost in the wall street area and managed to wander into the stock market building without realising it. The next thing I knew was that I was surrounded by thousands and thousands of people yelling, running around with papers or just staring at the many screens displayed across the room. My only thought at the moment had been to find the quickest way out of the crowded area which had me stumble into a spacious meeting room filled with rich – well richer than us at the time – looking people.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" The one standing demanded angrily, "They told us we would have complete privacy!"

"S-sorry!" I stuttered nervously and lowered my head, "I got really lost and just wanted to escape the crowd…"

"Yeah, shit does get crazy in there…" a large black man in a suit commented. "You'll be in for a long wait. These guys only leave when the security comes out to force 'em out."

I didn't really know what to say to that but it seemed the man standing beat me to it.

"Well that's his problem." He snapped before turning to me, "Now beat it kid."

I nodded sheepishly and made for the door but the amount of people moving in front of it stopped me from going anywhere. "It's like a freaking wall…" I exclaimed loudly without meaning to.

The other people in the room – save for the man standing – all laughed at my comment before ushering me to close the door and come to them again.

"You're welcome to sit with us the time this thing dies down though I warn you it won't be for a while." The black man stated before extending his hand for me to shake it. "Jayden Dawson."

I smiled and went to introduce myself as well but the man standing beat me to it once more. "What!? We can't keep him here!" he shrieked, for some reason he seemed to hate me a lot and we hadn't even met, "What if he was sent here by our competitors to spy on us!? To ruin us!? We're already in shit; this guy can make it worse!"

Jayden Dawson had seem to take this into consideration before pulling his hand away and looking at me in all seriousness. "Are you working for our competitors?"

"No."

"Good enough for me."

I smiled toothily, I had really liked this guy and he did become one of my close friends for a long time.

"Jayden! Don't be an idiot! We don't have the luxury to be careless!" the man had snapped.

Jayden had gotten up from his seat which had taken me aback because the guy was huge. He easily towered over the annoying man who was cowering in fear at a moment's notice. "Mister White." He said dryly, his tone dripping with venom. "Have you forgotten who your boss is? If I say this young man can stay, then he may."

White gulped loudly and nodded, "S-sorry…" he apologized.

Jayden finally laid off and turned his attention back to me. This time, I was the one who extended my hand to greet him politely and introduce myself. "Alfred F Jones."

He smiled to me and shook my hand firmly. "Well Mister Jones. Please take a seat over there." He gestured an empty chair at the end of the table.

"We'd also appreciate it if you were quiet too." Mister White snapped bitterly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." I assured as I took a seat and observed what they were doing.

Judging by the projection of multiple graphics that represented how well their business was doing, I realised they were borderline bankrupt. And the more I listened, the more I understood how the whole thing worked and, soon enough, I was squirming in my seat to suggest an idea that I thought could fix their problems.

"It would seem Mister Jones would have something to say." A woman that I hadn't yet noticed – because there were more men in the room – stated.

Jayden looked at me and smiled, "Do you know how this works?"

I shook my head, "But I've been watching you guys go at it for a bit and seem to be understanding a few things." I added.

"Like what?" Mister White asked bitterly.

"Like you guys could go bankrupt if you make just one more bad investment." I said which was true. "Here's what I suggest…"

And just like that, I got up and started explaining what I had understood of what they'd been doing this whole time and that I noticed a certain event happened every time that resulted in loss of money for the company. Once I finished explaining that and being corrected a few times by Jayden and Mister White, I began talking about my suggested initiative they could take to regain all the money they'd lost and reimburse their debts.

"That's not a bad idea…" Jayden admitted as he thought what I said through, "And you're sure you didn't study this in school at some point?"

"I've never really been to school." I admitted sheepishly. "My parents abandoned me and my brother at some random orphanage when we were really young. We didn't stay for long because the caretakers were hurting him and I couldn't stand it. We found an abandoned house at some point and have been living there ever since. But we left it to come to New York City to see if things would change for us."

Mister White didn't seem impressed and probably wanted to say something snarky but Jayden beat him to it.

"That's interesting but one would believe someone in your state to be a little less…educated." Jayden explained, "You don't seem like a complete idiot to me."

I blushed in embarrassment a little as I admitted to scavenging a junkyard more times than I could count for educational things. "My brother was always more talented at that stuff so he taught me a lot." I said scratching the back of my head, "the only reason I know how to read, write, count and do the basic calculations is because my brother had learned all that stuff by himself to teach it to me after."

I remember that, at that moment, Jayden had stared at me quizzically; thinking very hard on what he wanted to say to that comment and shushing Mister White the second he wanted to pull out a comment.

"I believe that God makes things happen for a reason." Jayden began slowly, "I started from practically nothing too but got lucky here and there to get where I am now. However, my luck seems to have run out."

"I guess I'm feeling lucky." I stated with a smirk, "I can always spare some of mine if you would accept it."

And then Jayden started to laugh loudly which had me jolt in surprise but smile dumbly too. Once he calmed down, he decided that he would give me a shot and try out my idea, that he would reward me with a lot of money and a job if it worked.

"We won't see any results for about a week so come back then."

A week later, I did and a week later, I could return home to tell Mattie that I had gotten a job and fifty thousand initial dollars that we could spend on new clothes, body washing products and food. By then Mattie had also gotten his own job and was rising to the top quickly.

Over the years, Jayden's company grew but hit a stop five years later when Jayden died from an overdose. The man had become my best friend almost and losing him was one of the worst things ever since he had helped me out so much. In his will he had left the company to me but couldn't accept it. Jayden had a family of his own that had counted on him to provide for them – and that lone woman I saw in that room when I first met him turned out to be his wife – so what I decided to do was keep my current position in the business and give all rights of ownership to her.

The company started to progress once more and expanded dramatically. Two years later it almost seemed like all the workers had been exchanged but they were all – for the most part – still present in the company. The amount of workers were the only things that had changed which was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me because it allowed me to meet Kiku.

Now, I'm not gay but nor am I straight; I'm bi. However, due to a certain brother complex, my tastes seemed to be more inclined towards men than women. But anyways, Kiku and I built up a strong friendship that involved to a serious relationship; something I hadn't had in a long time.

Mattie seemed to get along great with him since he was interested in foreign affair and culture so the two normally got into long conversations about Japanese culture and cooking. I remember, one day I came home greeted to a completely different apartment styled like a traditional Japanese home with a table covered in Japanese dishes.

It had been one of the best meals of my life.

My relationship with Kiku lasted three years before it came to an abrupt and forceful ending. Up until that time, life had been perfect and filled with happiness. The memories of the Asylum were just a thing from the past that would remain where it belonged but I was deadly wrong.

One day, I came home to an apartment awfully quiet but completely destroyed and horrific. The walls had been painted in blood and were covered with the same French and English sentences that increased my anxiety.

_Tu ne peu pas t'enfuir. L'inévitable est inévitable. Un jour, le cauchemar reviendra et, là, tu y perdras ta vie. Tu ne peu pas t'enfuir. L'inévitable est inévitable_.

You do not just run away. The inevitable is inevitable. One day, the nightmare will return and, there, you will lose your life. You do not just run away. The inevitable is inevitable.

I remember walking slowly down the corridor and taking a left to enter the kitchen where I had slipped on a puddle of blood.

A puddle of Kiku's blood.

My beloved Kiku had had his throat ripped out and his torso carved open in a familiar fashion that had forced me to remember doctor Kirkland's gruesome death. His softly featured face was petrified in an expression of utter horror and pain which could only hint to the pain he had felt before his heart had stopped.

I cried.

I cried so much, in that puddle of blood as I realised there was nothing I could do to bring him back to me because I had gotten home much too late. It was only then that it occurred to me that Mattie had done this and was nowhere to be found. And even though he had killed the man I loved with all my heart, destroyed the happiness I thought had ruled over our home for the past ten years and plunged us back into the insanity of the past, I couldn't hate him.

I couldn't think of hating him or stop loving him.

He was my brother, my twin, my last family and all I could do was think that I was somehow responsible –again – for having him succumb to this chaos once more. I was the older brother and I had to protect him and I couldn't.

I failed again.

Thus, wearily, I called the police who invaded the apartment complex in a matter of minutes and took pictures of every little thing – even the ones that seemed irrelevant – just in case it would turn out as some sort of lead. I, on the other hand, was asked thousands of questions about Kiku and my brother most of which I couldn't answer because I simply didn't know.

"This is some sick hell house." One of the officers passing by muttered. "Straight out of a lunatic's head."

At that comment, the investigator began asking me about Mattie's mental health problems which I answered with lies because I was afraid of what would happen if they learned that the incident of ten years ago with the Asylum had involved us. The investigating officer hadn't seemed too convinced by my answers but let it be as it was because there was nothing to prove me the least bit wrong.

"Right well," the officer said concluding the interview, "Your alibi has been checked and we know for a fact you're not the murderer." I rolled my eyes but continued to listen anyhow. "However, your brother doesn't seem in too much of a good spot. I know he's family but I trust you to do the right thing."

"The right thing?" I repeated.

"Yeah," he nodded, "If he turns out to be the murderer, I trust that when you learn on his whereabouts, you'll report it to us immediately."

And those words stung deep in my heart, deeper than finding the mutilated corpse of my boyfriend because I knew I still loved my brother more than he. To denounce him to the police, to send him off to jail for something I knew he wouldn't have done unless something was seriously wrong was something unbearable and impossible to do. It was at that moment that I realised that I would have to find Mattie first, save him again and move away to start our lives once more and get another chance at happiness. There was no way I was abandoning him.

* * *

I woke up with a jolt spilling my coffee that had now gone cold.

"Aww man!" A teenage girl whined. She was obviously a worker at the café I had stopped by. "I was all set to go home…"

"Sorry…" I mumbled sheepishly before getting up and just leaving.

I left the place in a hurry and walked down the street only to notice that it was dark outside. I was surprised that the owners of the café had let me rest for such a long time but maybe it was because they felt bad for me. It was obvious by the looks of me that I hadn't slept in days – two weeks actually, ever since Mattie disappeared. I hadn't allowed myself the luxury of sleep because I was always so afraid that the cops would find him first and that was the last thing I wanted.

Anyways, I figured the best case scenario for now would be to find a cheap motel and spend the remaining of the night there. While I was at it, I could also try to think of places I hadn't yet checked where Mattie could be hiding or think up an effective strategy that would help me locate him.

A few blocks down the street I found the perfectly cheap – but equally sketchy – motel where I would spend the night for twenty dollars. I normally would have been much more concerned about the price but was too mentally exhausted to truly care. I guess insomnia would do that to a guy.

I went up to my cheaply bought room and was surprised to find someone sleeping on the only bed. For a moment I had feared that I had found another dead corpse but the large man on the bed groaned and turned to face me when he noticed the light passing through the open door. I saw his eyes widen for a split moment before he literally jumped out of bed and reached for the gun on the nightstand that I had noticed far too late to avoid being shot or taken in as a hostage. He pointed it at me and glared a promise of death if I dared to run away; all I could do on my end was raise my hands to show that I meant no harm.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he hissed, his Russian accent was thick but didn't damage the English at all. "You a pig?"

"I…I'm not a cop…" I said after a moment of stuttering like as fool.

He cautiously walked closer and shoved me into the room before closing the door and locking it harshly. He then scanned the perimeters again, paranoia evident in every movement he made before returning his attention to me.

"Strip." He ordered dryly.

Although the last thing I wanted to do was strip, I felt inclined to obey for the simple reason of: he had a gun and I didn't. Hence, I took off my clothes which I gave to him on order so he could examine them for something – maybe a wire – but asked to at least keep my boxers.

"I don't know what you're looking for but there's obviously nothing in there." I stated gesturing my last piece of clothing.

He grunted and rolled his eyes before he continued to pat down my clothes. When he finished he folded them neatly – which I thought was just weird – and then examined me carefully, as if I had something to hide.

"What are you doing here?" He asked again as he walked in circles around me.

"I-I bought a room…and my key opened this door…" I answered in all honesty.

"Why should I believe you?" He stopped walking and I tensed.

"I-I don't know…" I answered stupidly.

He was silent for a moment and nearly gave me a heart attack when he started to walk again. He tossed me my clothes thus having me question why he had folded them in the first place and ordered me to get dressed again.

"C-can I leave?" I asked slipping on my shirt.

"_Nyet_." He answered, "I want to keep an eye on you, to make sure I don't have to kill you for finding me."

"But I don't have time to just stay here and prove to you that I'm not a cop!" I blurted out angrily. I had to find Mattie.

"Oh? And why not?" he asked truly intrigued.

"I don't have to answer you." I growled forgetting that he was technically in power.

He paused for a moment as if taking in consideration what I had just said before smiling like a child and sitting down on the bed. "Then how about a game, da?" He suggested, "A question for a question. The only rule is that we're not allowed to lie."

I wasn't too sure on doing so but figured that if it would allow me to leave, then it couldn't do much damage.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Oh good." He giggled to himself. "Now why can't you stay? Why are you in a rush?"

"I'm looking for someone." I answered. "Why are you so paranoid about the cops?"

"Because I know things that aren't technically legal." He answered his smile widening. "Who are you looking for?"

"My brother." I answered quickly noticing that the game seemed to be speeding up in intensity already. "What's your name?"

He paused for a moment as if he wasn't too sure about answering that particular question and I immediately regretted asking it. "Ivan Braginski." He answered with a polite bow of the head. "What's your name?"

"A-Alfred F Jones…" I answered with a stutter.

"Now, now, we said we wouldn't lie." Ivan smirked.

"I didn't. I just stuttered." Then I realised it was my turn to ask another question. "What did you do to have to be so on guard towards the cops?"

His smile widened which scared me, "I found out too much information." He answered. "Why are you looking for your brother?"

"Because he…did something…and I have to get to him first…" I mumbled answering vaguely. It only seemed fair since he was doing the same thing. "What did you know too much about?"

"Everything but more particularly, on whereabouts." He responded, excitement evident in his voice. There was something wrong with this _game_ but I had to wait for his cue to stop playing. "Who else is after your brother?"

"The…police…" I replied slowly, I felt like I shouldn't be telling him that. "Who's whereabouts do you know about?"

The question sounded stupid but I was running out of things to ask and he still seemed to have a lot of them.

"Everyone's. Well, almost everyone's." Ivan said with a purr in the back of his voice as if I had asked the question he longed to hear. "What did your brother do?"

"He…killed someone…" I answered slowly but was intrigued by the answer had given me. "So you know where everyone is? At all times?"

"_Da_, mostly. I just need a picture to know who I'm looking for and then, it's just a question of time." He responded nonchalantly. "Who did he kill?"

There was a lump in my throat as I answered that question. "My…boyfriend…" and I immediately jumped to asking my own question to change the subject. "Does it normally take some time to locate someone?"

"_Nyet_. I have a talent for locating people." Ivan responded, "Do you want to find your brother first in order to kill him?"

"What?" I gasped.

"Kill him." Ivan repeated, "Are you angry that he killed your boyfriend? Are you looking for him to achieve vengeance?"

"No!" I yelled, "He's my brother! I love him! I want to find him to save him! I would never hurt him!"

"That's strange." Ivan stated, a puzzled expression on his face. "Most people would seek death for those who have taken away what they loved most."

"Maybe but I'm not like most people!" I growled, "I love my brother!"

"Of course you do." He smirked, he then raised the gun and pointed it at me. "But now you know too much about me to be allowed to live."

My eyes widened and I felt cold sweat on my face. I should have seen this coming.

"But…I'm not a cop…" I mumbled.

"Maybe, but you still know too much." He stated cocking the deadly weapon.

"B-but it was your idea! It was your idea to play this game!" I argued.

"And you should have left when you had the chance." He smirked. "You should never believe our kind. We deceive all the time."

He was just about to pull the trigger when I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Wait!" and I didn't think it would have him wait but it did so I couldn't waste the few more seconds I had to live by staying quiet. "W-what if we make a deal?"

He was visibly intrigued and I began to understand how this man functioned. He liked games a lot and a deal – to him – was most likely just some other form of a game.

"Help me find my brother." I said, "I'll be doing something illegal and I don't want to go to prison either so we'll both have a bounty on our heads. You won't have to fear me denouncing you."

The Russian took what I said into consideration, nodding and putting the gun down for a split second before pushing it back up. "_Da_, true but there's nothing valuable for me in the end." He said but then put the gun down, "But I like you. You're entertaining so I will help you although there will still be a price to pay for my services and my sparing your life."

I nodded, "Fine. I don't care what it is, I just want to find my brother."

* * *

**I was actually going to call the black guy Jayden Smith but then I was like 'Isn't that an actual person?' So I went with Jayden Dawson because the last name reminded me of Jack Dawson from Titanic *Leonardo DiCaprio fan forever***

**Anyways, this story is going to be less horror and more detective crap (I think) and Ivan's actually going to stick with Al for a while (if some of you read the Asylum, you'll notice that Al had a partner but he almost died immediately lol) and I also find that Ivan is necessary so far but THERE WON'T EVER BE A COUPLE!**

**Maybe I'll put some hinted RusAme moments but that's it! There won't legitametly be one because this story is about Al trying to find Mattie before the cops do!**

**So now that we got that clear, what do you think Ivan will want in return for his services?**

**HINT: it's NOT sex.**

**SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!**


	3. We're All Mad Here

**I guess I like concentrating on insanity xP**

**There's a lot of that in here... but anyways,**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

When I awoke in the morning I was greeted by the cold, hard, dirty floor of the cheap motel. Ivan had decided to hog the bed and condemn me to the floor and although it was uncomfortable, I didn't care much. It wasn't like I wanted to share a bed with that sleazy guy anyway…

"Oh, awake?" Ivan giggled stating the obvious.

I rolled my eyes with a groan and scanned the floor quickly only to find a cockroach two millimetres away from my face. With jolt of surprise and disgust, I backed away from the horrid insect only to tickle another giggle from Ivan.

"This place was cheap for a reason." He stated slipping off the bed and marching towards large boots that laid sprawled on the ground. I couldn't tell if they were legitimately his or if it was stolen property but it wasn't like it mattered much. "I'll have to find a place to take a shower to get the bedbugs off of me."

I finally stood from the floor with a deep sigh, cracking my back and stretching my sore body. "So how are we going to start?" I asked getting straight to the point. Ivan stopped in the middle of the motion of slipping his second boot on. His expression was one of perplexity and offence which I didn't understand. "What?"

"No good morning? Not even a hello?" he reminded more than asked. He saw me roll my eyes exaggeratedly and laughed almost like a mad man. "Oh, I only tease!" he said as if there was anything reassuring about that, "I do love to joke."

"Right…" I mumbled averting his gaze, "Where do we start looking for Mattie?"

"I'll need to see a picture of him before we do that." Ivan replied adjusting the boot on his food with a few kicks to the tip. "You have one on you, don't you?"

I fished through my pockets looking for my wallet and was rather surprised to find nothing. "I had my wallet, I swear." I mumbled aloud.

"One should never swear." Ivan chuckled throwing something around in his hands. I looked over and noticed it was my wallet, "I took it for fun. I also looked over your ID, you're not a cop as far as I'm concerned."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." I growled reaching for my property, "Now give it back!"

"Not so fast." Ivan laughed putting the object out of my reach, "We need to see your brother's face."

He opened my wallet and began fumbling through the pockets it held, skipping over the money and credit cards until he found the loose picture that I always kept with me.

"Why is a part of it ripped?" he asked examining all the sides as if the rest would reveal itself.

"No reason…" I lied, the full image used to also have a portrait of Kiku.

"Hmm…Your lover." Ivan guessed accurately. "You're like an open book, you know?"

"Whatever, does it really matter?" I snapped, "I just want to find my brother so look at his picture and work your magic!"

Ivan smirked, "Oh, speaking of the dead is a touchy subject?" he stated more than asked. I just glared at him to express how un-amused I was by his _teasing _– if it could still be called that. He laughed and then finally looked at the picture; soon enough his expression was dripping curiosity. "How bizarre." Ivan uttered analysing the picture closely. "It seems as though your brother isn't known to the underworld…"

"Of course he isn't…" I said, "He's an angel."

"And yet he killed a man in cold blood." Ivan grinned.

"It wasn't in cold blood!" I defended, "Something was wrong with him at the time that's why I need to find him!"

"Of course." Ivan said dismissively, "Now this location will prove to be tougher because he's not known in my domain. One would assume that a murderer would have some illegal past but I guess some of them are spontaneously born from time to time." He smiled at me, regardless my glare. "However, I'm still confident I can find him. I just need to get into his head."

"How are you going to do that?" I asked. "My place is crawling with police officers looking for clues and, apparently, you're wanted by them."

Ivan took what I said into consideration before finding a loop hole. "We just need a distraction." Ivan concluded, "And I know just the one."

"I-it's not illegal, is it..?" I stuttered as he skipped towards the door.

He stopped and turned to smile at me, "Oh Alfred, remember the game you're already playing." A flash of insanity invaded his amethyst eyes for a brief second as he paused. "Does it really matter?"

* * *

"This is insane!" I complained as I watched the Russian finalise his distraction. "You know there's illegal and then there's fucking illegal and this is _way_ above the both of them combined!"

I was starting to understand how Mattie felt all those times he told me not to do something stupid or dangerous.

"Shut up, I don't need to hear your bitching." Ivan growled as he connected the final wires, "There. The bombs are complete and the detonator is set and ready to go."

Ivan had decided that the best distraction that would give us more time to examine my apartment would be by blowing up a building. Of course, I had told him that I would denounce him immediately if he did just that but we came to a compromise. He'd blow up a building and no one would get hurt in the process but as he finished up everything, I was starting to get second thoughts.

"Do you know how much explosive power is in there?" I asked worriedly.

"About…" Ivan admitted with a guilty smile.

"That doesn't—"

He covered my mouth before I could say anything else and hauled me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Stop bitching and let's get a move on!" he ordered, "We'll stop in front of your apartment and then I'll blow it up. We can watch the cops leave and make sure no one stayed behind."

Ivan's plan was simple and could be considered brilliant if it weren't for the fact that he was going to blow up a building and still, potentially hurt people with the debris that would be flying everywhere. Nevertheless, he had selected a building that was abandoned not all that far away from my apartment so that the cops stationed there would be forced to leave, investigate and help out anyone who had been caught up in the blast or wounded by the debris.

I guess one could say it was fool proof.

Ivan quickly brought me to his car, refusing to let me down – he assumed I would be too slow on foot – and threw me in his sketchy vehicle. A few people that had seen him assumed I was being kidnapped but what shocked me was that none of them reached for their phones to call the police or anything and continued on with what they were doing, as if nothing had ever happened.

Ivan drove off at a crazy speed before coming a rough stop directly in front of my apartment. "Whoa." He whistled, clearly impressed. "So this is your place."

"Yeah, now let's get a move on." I ushered. I still wasn't sure about this whole plan and the more the seconds advanced, the more I wanted to put a stop to it which meant the faster Ivan had to ignite the fuse.

"_Da_, no problem." He smirked and pressed the button as if he carried no burden.

I waited for a loud explosion but nothing came except the annoying, rapid tic of Ivan mutilating the button with his finger. "_Eto byk der__ʹ__mo!_" he cursed, "my calculations were proper!"

"I guess they weren't." I said with a relieved sigh. "I guess we need a plan B."

And the second I finished my sentence, a loud boom crashed by ear drums and shook the ground as a powerful earthquake would. I spun my head around to see the area Ivan had planted with bombs blow to bits, dragging about ten more buildings into the chaos and then burning down double the amount.

"I-I thought you said your calculations were proper!" I exclaimed stupidly.

"Well as you might have noticed with the extreme delay," the Russian reminded with a wave of the finger, "My calculations held an important mistake…I guess I might have killed some people but that doesn't matter. In fact, it's a good thing; it means we have more time to scavenge."

I sighed helplessly to control my rage but also the horrible feeling that swelled inside of me. I too was responsible for all the deaths that may have occurred with the explosion.

I stared out the window and noticed all the cops that had flooded my apartment leave in a hurry and dash for their cars. The sirens went off and they honked at the other cars to move out of their way. We waited a supplementary minute to make sure that all of them were actually gone before stepping out of the car and running towards my apartment.

Pressing the buttons in the elevator that lead up to my home was harder than I ever imagined it to be.

"Please insert your key." The female robotic voice demanded.

It was a safety procedure that the owner of the building had set to make sure that no one would get an ugly surprise since all who dared access the elevator needed a key to get it moving to the floor they wanted.

My hand began to tremble as it made it's way to my back pocket.

_Kiku was smiling brightly, "Welcome home, Alfred-san."_

"_Geez, Kiku. There's no need for a honorific, we're all friends here!" I teased. _

"_Though some of us are more than friends." Mattie joked._

I shook my head to erase the memory and pushed the key into place before twisting it and setting the elevator in motion. I noticed that the Russian had been staring at me intrigued but not said a word, I must have zoned out for a moment longer than I imagined.

We soon got to my floor and stepped out. It wasn't hard finding the way to my particular home since it was covered in yellow tape to warn people that it was forbidden to enter. Even by me. And I lived there.

With ease, Ivan ducked under the tape and casually made his way down the hall before taking a left towards the kitchen. I saw his eyes widen and a smirk follow. "Whoa. You'd think the pigs would actually clean up this place." He snorted.

I quickly followed him to see what he was talking about. My heart throbbed painfully as my eyes set on the pool of dried blood on the floor. I could still see the area in which I sat as I wept.

I looked away, "Too hard to withstand, hun?" Ivan commented, his grin changing to bitterness. "I can't blame you. I've been through something like that too you know."

Hun?

Was he trying to sympathise with me?

"My parents were in deep shit with the mafia." Ivan explained without waiting for me to ask. "They helped a lot with the selling of drugs but for some reason, large quantities of each shipment made went missing. My parents said they had no idea what happened to it and suggested that someone taking part in the transfer was betraying them; however, the reality was my parents were keeping what they stole to sell them on the side and make more money. They were trying to fuck the mafia over, could you believe that?" Ivan laughed and shook his head as he walked around the dried mess and began investigating the living room. "Although, at some point, without warning my parents, the mafia replaced the entire staff with trust worthy folk that wore wires and cameras to film everything they were doing just to make sure none of _them_ decided to fuck them over. My parents, of course, didn't know and continued their affair. They had a large portion of the shipment moved again, like they always did, but this time it was caught on camera and they were basically screwed." Ivan picked up a magazine and flipped through the pages before putting it back down. "So one day a bunch of big guys – and I mean ten times my size – came over to my house to teach my parents a lesson. I don't know if they were tasked with killing them or beating the living shit out of them, but they died anyways. It was pretty brutal; they were fucked up with lead pipes right in front of their kids. And speaking of fucking, my mother did get raped."

"That's horrible." I mumbled following him into the first room that happened to be the one that I shared—had shared with Kiku.

"Ha! You didn't even hear the half of it." He laughed nonchalantly, as if what he went through wasn't a big deal. "So, like I said, I watched all of this happen with my two sisters and the second my parents stopped breathing, the idiots didn't know what to do with us. Should they kill us? Should they take us with them? Should they just forget about us? They didn't know, all they knew was that their job was done and they were left with three witnesses." He started to fish through my things, which I didn't really understand because the point of this was to get into Mattie's head. "Finally, one of them decided that they couldn't just leave us, that we had to die or go with them. They were set on killing us but one of them stopped the others because he had a kid of his own that was about our age and couldn't deal with our deaths. So they just took us away, back to their mafia hide out. There they beat us, humiliated us and violated my sisters. It wasn't a pretty moment in my childhood." He walked out of my room and made way to Mattie's. Something seemed tenser about him now. "And one day, my older sister had had enough and killed herself. Later I had found out that one of the guys that raped her had gotten her pregnant. I can't even tell you how that affected my younger sister; something snapped inside of her at that moment and she couldn't stop laughing. It was almost…frightening. Of course, the other guys thought it was creepy and decided to just ship her off to an asylum for the rest of her days. They also made up this phony reason to why she went insane – something about murdering thousands of women to keep them away from the man she loved. She was barely twelve for fuck sakes!"

_The only female tenant staggered passed me, her lifeless coloured hair flowing behind her as if she were a ghost. If it weren't for the bad condition she exercised on herself, she would have been the most beautiful woman I'd even have encountered._

_Mattie told me her name was Natalya and that she killed thousands of women because they touched the man she loved the most. The same story was repeated to me by the receptionist but she added that Natalya had gotten so obsessive and paranoid that she killed the man she loved for fear that he would leave her. _

I winced at the memory and shook it away. "Do you know what happened to her?"

Ivan smiled a bitter smile. "Dead. Just like her older sister." He chuckled sadly as he began to poke around Mattie's room. "The story goes that, ten years ago, the asylum that kept her went up in flames after a dangerous patient escaped and killed everybody in there. Apparently, her death was second most gruesome. The reports said that her eyes had been carved out and her hands cut off – possibly eaten by the mental patient that supposedly had a taste for cannibalism." I tried to ignore the memories flooding back into my mind as he continued. "I had wanted to find her and take her away from all the crap that happened but I guess I arrived too late." Ivan paused once his hand brushed something under the bed. He calmly stood straight and jumped on Mattie's bed, landing on his back, hands under his head. "But there's one thing I don't understand."

I stood straight, subconsciously knowing what he was going to ask next. "What is it?" I was surprised I didn't stutter.

"How is it that your brother escaped the asylum when reports confirmed that everyone in the asylum had died?" Ivan grinned sickly, having caught me in the act. "You know keeping an unstable man in the outdoors when he was once upon a time incarcerated in an asylum for the safety of others is illegal, don't you?"

"How did you…?"

I stopped when Ivan threw something white and soft at my face. I immediately recognized it as Kumajirou.

"I finally got into your little brother's head." He smirked sitting up. "And from what I now know, you were in the asylum too, weren't you?"

I jolted giving away that I was, in fact, present that day. "Y-yea…"

"Don't worry. I'm not angry." He laughed jumping to his feet. "I just want to know the truth about how my sister died. You saw her with your own eyes, I know it."

I looked around the room as if something would be able to help me avoid revealing what I had seen then but there was nothing to save me. "That day…" I began slowly, "When I came in, it was Mattie and I's 17th birthday. He wanted to show me something he had made for me that he had left in his room. He had taken so much time in retrieving it that I decided to join him to his room where I saw her on the way. She was staggering and mumbling _I love you_ constantly—"

Ivan smirked before interrupting me. "Do you know why she kept saying that?" He asked rhetorically. "She always said that because one of the bastards who tortured her said that if she didn't say it a hundred times, he'd kill me. She didn't know how to count so ever since that moment all she ever said was _I love you_."

I stared at him, speechless, wondering if he still wanted me to go on which he did by gesturing me to continue by rolling his wrists.

"R-right…" I stuttered before continuing. "When the power was cut out, I was with Doctor Kirkland and he was trying to lead me and Mattie to some place where there were blue prints of the asylum. It was on the way that Mattie brought my attention to Natalya that was on the floor. Dead. It was dark, and I had a hard time seeing but from what I _could_ see, her eyes were carved out, there was a smile cut into her face going from ear to ear and her hands were cut off."

I stopped abruptly and watched the Russian man carefully as he hugged his knees and hid his face in them all the while sitting on my brother's bed. Suddenly, he laughed. He laughed loudly. It was almost deafening.

"What a way to go hun!?" He practically yelled as tears poured down his face. "Raped since age six, sent away to a crazy house at twelve and finally brutally killed at twenty two! Hilarious!"

"Stop it." I whispered. "It's not funny."

"Exactly! It's sad! So sad, that's why I'm laughing!" Ivan yelled. He fell on his back and started kicking his legs around as he held his stomach. I couldn't understand how this was amusing in the least bit.

Finally, he calmed down with a sigh and laid on the bed. "Haa…we're all mad here." He chuckled. There was more silence before he decided to speak again. "I think I figured everything out." He said looking at me, "He was laying right here, just like I am right now, when he snapped, just like I did. And then the Japanese man came home and went to see him. And your brother, he screamed, he screamed like he was about to die and pushed your lover to the ground. And do you know why?" Ivan now sat up and stared at me, waiting for an answer. Seeing that I was petrified he decided to continue without my consent instead of simply stopping. "He thought that Mister Mean was there…that he had come back for him…and he thought that he was going to kill his beloved brother…so he took a knife and stabbed him in the neck, ripped out his throat and cut his chest open to rip out the heart, to make sure he wouldn't come back—"

"Okay! Stop it!" I yelled covering my ears. "I don't want to hear it!"

Ivan stood from the bed and placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "It's alright…" he cooed softly. "We're all mad here…"

* * *

_Eto byk der__ʹ__mo – _this is bull shit (in Russian)

* * *

**We learn a little about Russia (because why not) and then move on to more insanity!**

**I'm introducing a few new characters next chapter (three of them if everything goes well) however, there's only one of them that most of you will assume to be an OC when he is not. I'll tell you his name in advance so that you can try to figure out who he is. **

**Dr. Nial Krukarth**

**I based myself off of Shutter Island and Harry Potter for that name and I'll give you another hint to discover who this person is. Teddy Daniels - Andrew Laeddis and (the most obvious one) I am Lord Voldemort - Tom Marvalo Riddle**

**So now, who is Dr. Nial Krukarth?**

**Anyways,**

**SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!**


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